Donkervoort takes ‘carbon edition’ to extreme with D8 GTO

Donkervoort, a small Dutch manufacturer, has unveiled the D8 GTO Bare Naked Edition at the Shanghai auto show. This is what you call minimalist performance, right here.

As the name suggests, the D8 GTO has been meticulously crafted using strong, ultra-light carbon fiber, and we’re not talking a few lashings around the center console either. The chassis, dashboard, body, seats and almost every imaginable item installed in this car are constructed to be super strong, and more importantly, light in weight.

This car’s predecessor for example, the D8 GTO, tips the scales at just under 700kg. So if you do the math, the Carbon Edition is set to be really, really light. Donkervoort says “even the ignition cylinder housing, belt-and-roll bar trim and headlight housings are made of visible carbon fibre”.

In the engine compartment the D8 GTO receives a 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine, courtesy of Audi, producing 294kW of power and 450Nm of torque. The engine is tweaked by Donkervoort, lifting power from Audi’s usual 265kW setting in the old TT RS Plus.

Performance stats released by Donkervoort has the D8 GTO doing the 0-100km/h sprint in 3.0 seconds, capable of hitting a top speed of 255km/h – provided your face doesn’t fall off before then.

Alexi is a contributing news journalist and junior road tester at PerformanceDrive. He has a passion and appreciation for the engineering in cars, as well as new technologies that lessen the impact on the environment. His dream cars are an M3 to drive to work, and a LaFerrari for the weekend.